UC names new top cop, assistant chief

University of Cincinnati president Santa Ono shakes hands with and welcomes new UC Police Chief Anthony Carter and assistant chief Maris Herold to campus at the University of Cincinnati main campus in Cincinnati, on Thursday, June 2, 2016. Both Carter and Herold join the department after having spent time with the Cincinnati Police Department. (Photo: Sam Greene)

After a nationwide search, the University of Cincinnati named Anthony Carter as its new police chief and Maris Herold as assistant chief. The pair will start work on June 20.

The announcement was made during a Thursday afternoon news conference where UC President Santa Ono said, "it turns out the best of the best was right here in Cincinnati" speaking of Carter and Herold.

Ono said he challenged his team to find the best two individuals to lead the police department through immense change and transform it into a national leader for urban campus policing.

The two new leaders are veterans of the Cincinnati Police Department and were instrumental in the reform of that department over the past 15 years. They will join three other former city employees or consultants – Robin Engel, James Whalen and Gregory Baker – in heading the UC Department of Public Safety.

During his tenure at CPD, Carter trained the command staff on the collaborative agreement, racial profiling and bias-based policing. He and Herold plan to bring the same reform process that CPD went through to the university and incorporate evidence-based policing and data-driven analysis.

They will both assume their new roles on June 20. They replace Jason Goodrich and Timothy Thornton, who resigned in February as a result of an outside investigation of UCPD that came after a fatal shooting of an unarmed black motorist by a UC officer last summer.

Carter's first words as the new chief stressed the importance of accountability and understanding the community and its needs.

“We are going to be engaged. We are going to network. We are going to be accountable,” Carter said. “My job as chief is to be the person that you hold most accountable. And you can expect that from us.”

Community told to expect engagement

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Carter said the community on and off campus can expect the UC Police Department to be one of transparency, respect, professionalism partnership with open communication.

“We want to be an active part of this campus,” Carter said. “We’re prepared for things that could occur, but we don’t want to interrupt any processes that go on on campus or in the community.”

For Carter, visibility is a key driver of his “customer-friendly” policing strategy.

“Our visibility is one where we want to facilitate this environment,” Carter said. “We are not urban police officers. There is a difference in those strategies.”

Herold said the community can expect the same things she’s been passionate about for 15 years.

“That’s data-driven strategies, problem-solving and a strong platform for community engagement,” Herold said. “That’s the first we’re going to take a look at and I’m confident the chief and I are going to be able to accomplish those big, heavy moves.”

Off-campus policing necessary, but top priority

In a university setting, students live, work and socialize in the neighboring communities, which means officers will have a presence off-campus.

“Visibility is the biggest deterrent,” Carter said. “But, if we run into a problem and if we are taking action it is prudent action based off of the best training and the best information.”

He acknowledged UCPD has a vested interest off-campus, but called it a “gray area” and said what occurs on those streets is the primary responsibility of the Cincinnati Police Department.

“We will never forsake a time where we need to step in for safety concerns but at this point in time, general policing on the streets of Cincinnati, should be done by the CPD,” Carter said. “We’ll work through how much more we will be involved in those processes, but for now I want our focuses and concerns to be how we perform on campus.”

He stressed the importance of people understanding the university and city police departments are a team and CPD will be a vital resource in off-campus policing.

Building trust will take communication, training

“Trust starts with communication,” Carter said. “In order for us to build trust, we first have to have a level of communication that gets us to a level of understanding.”

He said even if there is disagreement, knowing where his position is and understanding how he will respond helps rebuild that trust.

“Understanding just means I see your point of view, you see mine, now let’s see if we can reach consensus,” Carter said.

He also said the engagement piece is very important and backing up his words with heartfelt actions.

When asked about how to prevent situations similar to the shooting of Samuel DuBose, Carter said he will look at training along with the duties and responsibilities of officers.

“We will look at a multitude of circumstances that law enforcement officers are confronted with on a daily basis,” Carter said. “And we will provide training and supervision for officers to help them mitigate through those process, while we reduce any type of physical conflict.”

The July 19 shooting of DuBose ignited a firestorm of criticism and brought reform efforts at the university.

Engel was brought in as the vice president of safety and reform to lead those efforts within the UC Police Department.

She said she recognized that the right leadership is critical to lasting reform.

With community input, the search committee identified what it was looking for in the new chief and assistant chief. It wanted strong leaders that could make organizational change; experience in working in urban communities; ability to engage diverse communities and a proven ability to rebuild trust; and a committed to best practices and evidence-based policing practices.

“This is the team that will set the path to become national leaders in urban university policing, a model for voluntary reform and the standard for translating reform into continuous innovation over time,” Engel said.

Who are the new leaders

Police Chief Anthony Carter

Experience: 34 years of policing. Currently chief of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in Cincinnati for four years. He also served in the Cincinnati Police Department for more than 20 years as an officer, commander, lieutenant and most recently as the assistant to the police chief.

Education: He studied criminal justice at the University of Dayton and received a bachelor of liberal arts degree from Xavier University.

Salary: $135,000

Hometown: "a lifelong resident of Cincinnati"

Assistant Police Chief Maris Herold

Experience: More than 20 years with the Cincinnati Police Department. She most recently served asDistrict Four commander, where she was engaged with some of the neighborhoods and community members around campus. She is also a nationally renowned expert on problem-solving and best practice policing and previously worked as a social worker.

Education: She has a master's in criminal justice from Xavier University and completed her undergrad at Eckerd College in Florida with a bachelor's degree in sociology.